Wire transposition repair bracket



March 11, 1952 H. J. VENUS WIRE TRANSPOSITION REPAIR BRACKET 2 mars-251mm 1 Filed Aug. 2,, 1947 Z3 NA/E/V 727 HENRY J. VENUS Mam fl TTUR/VE /5 March 11, 1952 H. J. VENUS 2,588,781

WIRE TRANSPOSITION REPAIR BRACKET Filed. Aug. 2 1947 2 SI-XEETS--SHEET 2 20 [AM/EN TU HENRY J. VENUS 75 45 Maw Patented Mar. 11, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WIRE TRANSPOSITION REPAIR BRACKET Henry J. Venus, Baker, Oreg.

Application August 2, 1947, Serial No. 765,672

5 Claims.

The points at which the wires are crossed over are known as transposition points, and special cross-arm hardware is provided on the poles to keep the wires separated at such points. When any repair work is to be done at a transposition point, such as replacing a cross arm or broken insulators, or when it is desired to move a transposition point to a different cross arm or pole, it is necessary to hold the wires out of contact with each other while such work is being carried on. The wires ordinarily employed in such circuits are bare, and if they should contact one another the resulting short circuit is likely to throw certain automatic equipment out of order and put the line out of service. Heretofore any changes or repair work on such transposition points have been rendered very tedious and diflicult by the problem ofholding the wires apart -while the work is being done.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a portable repair bracket to hold the wires apart while maintaining them in their crossed relation so that they may be temporarily pulled clear of the cross arm on which they had been supported. Other objects are to provide a repair bracket for the purpose described which may be applied to the wires while they are still supported on their cross arm insulators and which may be left on the wires until all the necessary repairs and changes have been completed and the wires have again been secured in permanent position on a cross arm, to provide a repair bracket which is particularly suited for use with conventional cross-arm hardware fixtures and to provide a bracket which may be used to move the transposition point either along the line to a different pole or laterally to shift the line to a new position on the right-of-way. I

The invention comprises an open-center frame which is hinged on one side so that it may be opened and inserted between a pair of wires and. around the cross-arm fixture carrying the insulators on which the wires are secured. The frame may thus be closed around the cross-arm fixture with the wires trained around guiding rollers on the frame to hold them in the proper transposition relationship with one wire above the frame and the other wire beneath the frame. The invention further comprises a special tool which may then be used in conjunction with the frame to pull the wires free of the cross-arm insulators and allow them to be spaced and guided solely by the present repair bracket. The wires with the repair bracket supported thereby may then be pulled to one side or any other convenient position out of the way while the repair work is being carried on, there being no possibility of the wires coming into contact with each other to cause an interruption to service. The repair bracket may also be used to pull the line laterally to a different pole or up or down to a different cross arm on the same pole, and it may also be pulled along the line to change the position of a transposition point on the line. The wire supports on the repair bracket are preferably made in the form of rollers so that the bracket will travel quite freely along the line to move the transposition point as the bracket is being moved. While the present transposition bracket is intended primarily as a repair bracket to be used in the manner described, it may be left on the line as long as desired without interfering with service on the line, and it is capable of supporting itself in stable position at any point along the span between poles without any support other than the wires themselves.

Still other obiects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the invention is described in greater detail in the following specification with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention. It is to be understood, however, that various changes may be made in the construction, proportion and arrangement of parts within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the present device in position at a. transposition point on a pole cross arm;

Fi ure 2 is a plan view showing how the bracket is opened to pass around the insulator supports on the cross arm;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a wire puller which is used with the present bracket to pull the wires on or off the cross-arm insulators;

Figure 5 is a plan View showing how two of the present repair brackets may be used to change a transposition on a cross arm; and

Figure 6 is a plan view showing how the bracket may be used to move the wires laterally from one pole to another.

The present repair bracket is particularly adapted for use with a cross-arm fixture of the type illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The numeral l designates a cross arm on a pole. Bolted on top of the cross arm is a plate H having welded thereto a pair of U-shaped rods i2 and I? carrying the usual insulators l4, |5, I6, and H. It will be observed that the insulators I and I? stand higher above the cross arm than the insulators l4 and I6. A bare wire 20 is carried on the high insulators |5 and I! to cross over several inches above a bare wire 2| on the low insulators I4 and Hi to form a transposition point on the line. Wire ties, not shown, are ordinarily wrapped around the grooves in the insulators to tie the conductors and 2| in place. The structure thus far described illustrates a conventional transposition point in telegraph and telephone circuits and the like. This particular arrangement of the wires is designated as a left over transposition. because the left wire 26 crosses over the right wire 2|. When it is necessary to replace any' of the insulators M to H, or the cross arm II), or to move the circuit to a different cross arm, such operation must be carried out without allowing the bare wires and 2| to come into contact with each other.

The features of the present invention are embodied in the rectangular transposition repair bracket designated generally by the numeral 25. This bracket comprises a twopiece rectangular frame of wood or other insulating material hinged at 26 for insertion beneath the wire 20 and above the wire 2| to encircle the cross-arm fixture in the manner shown in Figure 2. When the frame 25 is closed together around the fixture, as shown in Figure 1, the wire 20 will be disposed wholly on the top side of the frame and the wire 2| will be disposed wholly on the under side of the frame. Guides 21 are provided at the joint in the frame to hold the two meeting parts in proper alignment. The opposite sides of the frame are equipped with eye bolts or the like 28 for-the attachment of a rope to pull the device away from the pole when the line is to be shifted laterally. The opposite sides of the frame are also provided with a series of holes 29 to receive the wire pulling tool shown in Figure 4 which will presently be described.

In the illustrated embodiment, the frame 25 is an open-center rectangle slightly longer than it is wide. On each of the two short sides of the rectangular frame are mounted a pair of bolts in cooperation therewith. The bolts 30 are'prefera'bly-spaced approximately the same distance apart as the rods l2 and IS on the cross-arm fixture with which the device is to be used, and on these bolts at the four corners of the frame and on opposite sides thereof are mounted eight insulating rollers to guide and support the wires 20 and 2 The rollers on the top side of the frame are designated by the numerals 34 to 3'? inclusive, and the corresponding rollers on the under side of the frame are designated by the same numbers with the subscript a added. Thus the top wire 2|! on the insulators I5 and H engages the top rollers and 3'land the lower wire 2| on the insulators M and HS engages the rollers 34a and 36a. The separation of the wires on the opposite sides of the frame of the bracket 25 is also clearly shown in Figure 3 where it will be observed that the insulating rollers 35a and 36 are not used in a left over transposition. Likewise, the rollers 35 and 31a are not used in this transposition. The four rollers just mentioned would be used in a right over transposition, however, in which case the four rollers 34a, 35, 35a and 31 would be unnecessary.

The frame 25 is of sufficient length to place the wire-engaging rollers a little distance away from the pole insulators when the frame is inserted between the wires as shown in Figure 2. As hereinabove pointed out, the lateral spacing of the wire-engaging rollers is approximately the same as the lateral spacing of the pole insulators whereby the rollers 35 and 36a may readily be placed between the Wires in the manner shown. As the frame is closed around the pole insulators it may be moved to the left in Figure 2 to space rollers 3 2a and 31 several inches to the left of pole insulators l4 and I1. Then Wire 20 is moved by hand over the end of guard 3| to engage roller 37, and wire 2| is moved over the end of another one of the guards 3| to engage roller 34a, as shown in Figure 1. The wires 2|) and 2| are thus disposed outside the transposition frame rollers and may then be removed from the pole insulators without danger of coming into contact with each other.

After the wire ties holding the wires 20 and 2| to the insulators l4 to 17 have been clipped off, the wire-pulling tool 40 shown in Figure 4 is used to pull the wires off these insulators to leave them guided solely by the rollers on the bracket 25. The tool 40 has a pivot stud 4| on one end to fit in one of the holes 29 in a convenient, position so that a hook 42 on chain 43 may bevhooked over the wire to pull it out of the groovein its, insulator. The handle on this tool is made long. enough to provide the necessary leverage so that the taut wire may easily be pulled clear, and free of its insulator. The tool 45 is not attached to the bracket 25 in any Way but may be freely applied to any of the holes 29 to serve its purpose This tool is also useful in putting the wires back on the cross arm insulators when the wires are under considerable tension.

When the wires have been removed from the cross-arm fixture in the manner described, the

bracket 25 and the wires may then be moved together according to the nature of the work to be done. The wire tension holds the two sides of the frame of the bracket tightly together and maintains the bracket in stable position supported solely by the wires without any tendency to twist the wires or bring them together to produce a short circuit. If it is only necessary to replace the cross arm or certain of the insulators I4 to H, the bracket 25 may be merely pulled up or down or to one side to move the wires out of the way while the work is being done. Figure 6 shows how a two-wire'circuit maybe pulled to one side to be transferred to a different pole;

In this figure the wires 25 and 2| originally carried on the cross arm ID are being moved overto" the cross arm lea on another pole. By attaching a rope 45 to one of the eye bolts 28 the bracket 25 is pulled over laterally to the new pole to bring the wires into their new positions.

Figure 5 illustrates the manner of moving a on bracket 25a to be positioned at the next pole on the line. It will be noted that the transposition point A is a left over transposition as shown in Figures 1 and 2. At the same time a second transposition bracket 25b, identical with the bracket 25a and with the bracket 25 in the other views, is being used to move a right over transposition point B down to the cross arm it, this bracket being pulled along in a similar manner by a rope 4?. There is, of course, no limitation on the distance which the transposition points A and B may be moved, as they may be pulled past any pole along the line. If the transposition point B is to be stationed at the cross arm i0, it will be apparent that the cross-arm fixture will have to be changed, because in such case the insulators l4 and [6 would have to be the high insulators and the insulators l and i! would have to be the low insulators.

In Figure 5, reference numerals are applied only to those repair bracket rollers which are engaging one of the wires, the reference numerals being omitted from those rollers which are not in use. Thus, in the bracket 25a containing the left over transposition A, the wire passes around the rollers 35 and 3'! on the top side of .the frame and the wire 2| passes around the rollers 34a and 36a on the under side of the frame. In the right over transposition B contained in the frame 251) the wire 28 passes around the rollers 34 and 36 on the top side of the frame and the wire 2| passes around the rollers 35a and 37a on the under side of the frame.

It is apparent also that if sufiicient slack may be pulled in the wires, two of the repair brackets may be used as shown in Figure 5 to form two new transportation points in a span which did not previously have a transposition point. After being formed in this manner the two new transposition points A and B may then be pulled apart for any distance on the line to suitably placed poles. Still other uses for the present device will occur to persons skilled in the art.

The rollers should roll freely on the bolts 30 and suitable bearing elements may be included if desired, although in practice the provision of any special bearings is not found to be necessary. These rollers are shown as made of insulating material such as porcelain, but they may be of metal because the non-conducting frame insulates the mountings for the rollers in any event. This is an important feature of the present construction because there should be no possibility of short circuit by contact of a wire either with a bolt or a guard 3!. Even if insulating rollers are used, it is still desirable that there be no possibility of short circuit should one of the rollers break in use.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is: I

l. A transposition repair bracket comprising an open center frame of insulating material, a pair of longitudinal joints in said frame, a hinge on one of said joints, guides on the other joint to register the two parts of the frame at the joint, a plurality of conductor guide elements on opposite sides of the frame to hold a pair of conductor wires in transposition relation, and a series of pivot holes along the sides of said frame to receive a wire pulling lever, the center opening in said frame having a width exceeding 6 the lateral spacing of said guide elements so that said frame may be placed around a cross arm fixture without removing the wires therefrom.

2. A transposition repair bracket comprising an open-center frame, a pair of joints in said frame for opening the frame to encircle a crossarm fixture between the conductors at a transposition point in a pair of conductors, conductor guide elements on opposite sides of said frame in positions to engage said conductors on both sides of the fixture and hold said conductors in spaced transposition relation for removal from the fixture, a wire pulling lever, and means for ivotally engaging said lever at a plurality of points on said bracket.

3. A transposition repair bracket for removing a transposition point in a pair of conductor wires from Wire supports on a cross arm fixture where one conductor crosses above the other, comprising a jointed frame havin an open center of sufiicient size to encircle the cross arm fixture between the wires to be removed, and pairs of wireengaging elements on opposite ends of said frame spaced longitudinally of the wires a greater distance apart than the longitudinal spacing of the wire supports on said fixture, the wire-engaging elements of each pair being spaced laterally approximately the same distance apart as the lateral spacing of the wire supports on said fixture.

4. A transposition repair bracket comprising an open-center elongated rectangular frame, a pair of joints in said frame for opening the frame to encircle a cross arm fixture or the like between the wires at a transposition point in a pair of conductor wires mounted on wire supports on said fixture, and pairs of wire-engaging elements on opposite ends of said frame spaced longitudinally of the wires a greater distance apart than the longitudinal spacing of the wire supports on said fixture, the wire-engaging elements of each pair being spaced laterally approximately the same distance apart as the lateral spacing of the wire supports on said fixture.

5. A transposition repair bracket for removing a transposition point in a pair of conductor wires from wire supports on a cross arm fixture where one conductor crosses above the other, comprising an elongated rectangular frame having an open center of suflicient size to encircle the cross arm fixture between the wires to be removed, joints in the ends of said frame for opening the frame to encircle said cross arm fixture, a hinge on one of said joints, and pairs of wire-engaging elements on opposite ends of said frame spaced longitudinally of the wires a greater distance apart than the longitudinal spacing of the wire supports on said fixture, the wire-engaging elements of each pair being spaced laterally approxi mately the same distance apart as the lateral spacing of the wire supports on said fixture.

HENRY J. VENUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 14,216 Wimley Feb. 5, 1856 710,206 OBrien et al Sept. 30, 1902 1,143,769 Leonard June 22, 1915 2,356,750 Case Aug. 29, 1944 

